ASX-listed ChemX Materials has signed a memorandum of understanding to work towards an offtake deal from its high-purity manganese project in South Australia with US battery technology company C4V.
The non-binding agreement is based around the potential supply of high-purity product from ChemX’s Jamieson Tank project on the Eyre Peninsula and is a significant step in the company’s plans to become a sustainable and reliable global supplier of battery materials.
While high-purity manganese is the initial focus of the deal, a key element of the agreement is for the two companies to work together on additional materials needed for C4V’s lithium-ion battery cells. This may include the company’s HiPurA process that is a unique technology able to produce high purity alumina and high purity aluminium cathode precursor salts for lithium-ion batteries.
The memorandum of understanding provides a framework to ensure ChemX’s battery materials meet the requirements of C4V’s technology and qualify for inclusion in C4V’s supply chain.
ChemX Materials chief executive officer Mark Tory said: “The nature of battery materials means it is essential to enter into early engagement with potential customers to ensure products are made to specification, which this MoU provides for. We will now work with C4V through the supply chain qualification process with the goal of progressing towards a binding offtake agreement for HPM produced by ChemX.”
C4V is a global leader in renewable battery technology and involved in some of the world’s largest gigafactory developments, including Recharge Industries’ gigafactory in Geelong and iM3NY’s gigafactory in the United States. The New York-based company leverages its expertise in electrode design and process development to create next-generation storage materials that can be integrated into current cell manufacturing lines.
Manganese has traditionally been used in the production of steel, specialty alloys and aluminium products. However, interest in the metal now centres on its increasing use in the battery market sector, with Tesla and Volkswagen producing a new battery with a higher proportion of manganese and no cobalt.
ChemX has already successfully completed initial metallurgical test work based on its manganese ores at Jamieson Tank and is optimising a flowsheet design for the high-purity manganese process with a prefeasibility study set to begin in the second half of this year.
Earlier this month the company completed a 94-hole drill program at the Jamieson deposit and is targeting a mineral resource estimate for the site before the end of the June quarter. Assays are currently being analysed with first results expected as soon as next week.
With Wood MacKenzie predicting North America’s capacity for battery production could grow more than ten fold by 2030 ChemX appear to have found itself in the right sandpit at the right time.
The market certainly appeared to like the move with the company’s share price popping 25 per cent today.
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By Michael Philipps
